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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

I Like Turtles.

In my last post I mentioned having recycled a shredded pillowcase, so here is the second project salvaging some of that material. Since I was motivated to sew, I decided I would sew whatever I wanted, so after the clothespin bag I wanted to make a gift for one of the (many) babies soon to be born to my friends. Sewing projects for infants are common, but I wanted to make something that would not be grown out of too quickly. Inspired by the simplicity ofuglydolls, which provide no choking hazards but are a little bit creepy, I decided upon a turtle. The list of patterns I have created on my own is very short...ok, this may be the first one, but much to my surprise it worked without a single problem! That is until the thin, old fabric tore as I was stuffing the turtle's little legs. I almost stopped then, to add it to my half completed projects and move on, but Nathanael told me to keep going. So, I patched the turtle's wounds, gave it some hand-sewn detail to compliment its roughness, and voila! The turtle prototype for my future baby gifts. I am actually kind of glad it ripped, because now I get to keep it and remember fondly how I purchased the pillow case at a yardsale before college (against the advice of people who told me it was a creepy thing to do).

My finished turtle is about six and a half inches long. He is made of 100% cotton, inside and out.

His solid green body used to be the base of the pillowcase and his colorblocked shell used to be the decorative edge fabric. I was not able to find such super fabrics at the fabric store this weekend, but I think future turtles will still turn out satisfactory and squishable.

And he comes out of his shell! Which is a completely inaccurate representation of turtles to young children, but so fun. I am sure I would have preferred this falsehood as a child.
What do you guys think?
Would your child / friend / younger-self approve of this toy?

6 comments:

Cute! Emma would love the fact that you could "dress" the turtle...which could inspire some shell designs for you. She would be disconcerted that the turtle had no eyes...little kids notice those things. LOL :)

I think he's a lil cutie! One of these days, you'll have to start setting up your own booth at craft fairs with all of your lovely wares. I think all the little kiddos in my life would like your turtle. A larger, more pillow-sized version would be really neat, too. Good for sleepy heads on car trips :>)